The other night, I decided to go see Baroness with Pallbearer, because I actually do like Baroness (a friend said he was surprised to see me there). I used to not like them at all, but a switch flipped somewhere in my brain a couple of years ago and now I really like them a lot, despite the fact that they aren’t really metal anymore.

This was my first show at the Cabooze, and I have to say that the layout of that place is a puzzle to me. The stage is located in a very awkward place in relation to the main bar, which sort of sits right in the middle of the room, and the room is very long, making it to where you pretty much have to go outside and walk around the building to get into the bathrooms, which are up near the front. I’m not crazy about it, and one guy (he was a customer, I think, not someone who worked there, he was just talking to a person who worked there), was really kind of snippy and rude with me when I was trying to figure out how to get to the bathrooms (I had never been there before! I was alone, and confused!). Parking was also not easy to come by; of course, I did end up getting there late. Fortunately, there is street parking available in the neighborhood, so it’s manageable, you just have to be willing to park and walk a bit.

All this occurred after I got off work for the night, and since that coincided with the start of the show, by the time I got to the venue and found parking I’d all but completely missed Pallbearer. All I saw of their set was the last half of the last song, which happened to be “The Foreigner” and therefore my favorite part of my favorite Pallbearer song. So that worked out ok.

A little bit later, Baroness took the stage. I had never seen them before, and after their horrible accident back in 2012 I thought I’d never get the chance to. It was shortly after that, actually, that I really started listening to Baroness. The band was in seemingly great spirits and sounded great, and the crowd was very responsive. It was a little weird because I only knew a couple of people there, but the energy all around was great.

Baroness

A better shot

As seems to be the case with most of the shows I’ve been to as of late, Baroness didn’t play a lot of their older material, sticking with Yellow/Green and Purple mostly. Which makes sense and is fine, but is sort of a letdown when the Red album is your favorite. They did play “Isak,” however, which is my favorite song from their whole catalog, so I can’t really complain. Some of the highlights of the setlist were “Shock Me,” “March to the Sea,” and the opening theme from the Green album, which was cool (I didn’t know they were going to do instrumental songs).

Mr. Baizley. Also, props to whoever was on the lights- they were coordinating well with the album colors

I didn’t pick up any merch this time, primarily because I was going to see Shining with Belphegor the next night and figured I’d be spending money at that merch booth (spoiler alert: I did), but also because I wasn’t about to try to fight my way over to the merch table in that venue. Which is kind of lame, because at some point I would like to acquire a print of some of John Baizley’s artwork. Alas, this night was not the night.

Baroness played a wonderful set, and it’s too bad I had to pretty much miss Pallbearer (I have seen them before, but not for a couple of years. They seem to come here fairly often though, so maybe I’ll get to catch an updated Pallbearer set soon). I’m glad that Baroness’ first foray back up to my neck of the woods since their revival went as well as it did, and I look forward to seeing them again.

Shirking my responsibilities in the way of homework and being a loyal devotee of Into the Void Records’ metal DJ night, I headed down to downtown Minneapolis to see the mighty Saint Vitus destroy the 7th Street Entry. It was a long show, an exhausting show, but it was also awesome and totally worth the next-day exhaustion.

This was my first time at 7th Street Entry, which is a tiny place that’s part of the famous 1st Ave. It was a small space, but very easy to move around in- there were exits from the standing room on both sides, so it was easy to get back up to the bar or outside if you needed to. Likewise, the stage was small but intimate.

The Hookers, from Louisville, KY, were the first band of the night. They are a hardcore band, and have a very Southern feel to their music. I enjoyed their set; it was exciting and full of energy. Although I am not very familiar with The Hookers, they have been around since the mid-90s and have put out a lot of records (a lot of 7”s too). Watching them was a treat, and I’m going to have to pay more attention to The Hookers from now on.

[Southern punk]

Next up was the mighty Pallbearer! I absolutely love these guys, and I bought their LP a couple of days before the show (it’s a double LP and each side has like, one song. Gotta love Southern doom). I saw Pallbearer open for Enslaved back in January, but the sound was really shitty and you couldn’t hear the vocals at all. This time, however, the problem was fixed- vocals were on and really good. They played a mix of material (including The Foreigner, which I get stuck in my head something awful), one of which was a new track that didn’t even yet have vocals. A great set from a great band.

Finally, Saint Vitus took the stage, about approximately the same time that a huge dude who was like 6’6” shoved past me to the front (Seriously?). I don’t have a whole lot of familiarity with Saint Vitus, I’m afraid. Doom is something that I’ve just started really getting into in the past year or so, and the American doom that I usually end up listening to is the Southern doom like Pallbearer and Cough.

[Doom.]

Saint Vitus was absolutely amazing, though. My friend S told me that I would be fascinated with Wino, and that he was the coolest person to ever grace a stage, and he’s about right. Saint Vitus is getting up there in years, and yet they dominated completely. It was a flawless set, and the crowd was eating it up. Wino shook my hand at one point towards the end of the set and almost broke it; that man has a very strong grip. It was thoroughly enjoyable, and I even went home with a drumstick. The best part for me was probably seeing the tiny girl who couldn’t have been older than 16 there, staring in wide-eyed fascination at the band.

[They are getting way up there, but they still have it.]

Lately, I have been on a merch mission for shirts that aren’t black, as I have a whole closet full of black. I figured at a doom show there might be some alternative colors, and I wasn’t disappointed. I ended up with this Pallbearer shirt, because I figured Saint Vitus is probably doing okay on money and I want to support my neighbors over in Arkansas.

Front

Back. (It IS red, not pink. Bad lighting.)

My first drumstick.

All and all, this was a great show. Although The Hookers felt like the odd man out on the bill, they still played a very strong set and the crowd clearly enjoyed it. Pallbearer was fantastic again, but better with the good sound, and Saint Vitus was absolutely incredible. I count myself lucky that I got to see such legends perform in such an intimate setting. I highly encourage seeing any and all of these bands if you ever have the chance.

**I just realized this is my 100th post! Woo! Maybe someday when I have a real job I can do giveaways for stuff like this!**

About a year and a half ago, Enslaved went to St. Paul with Alcest (!) and I had to miss the show because of a late class. The band was nice enough to sign a poster for me as a consolation prize, which Jamie brought back for me and that was awesome, but I was still bummed that I didn’t get to see them. But now I have! (And now I feel like I might deserve a signed poster).

Once again, the show was at a venue that was new to me. Mill City Nights is, nicely enough, right off the Warehouse District light rail station, which makes it very easy to get to. It is also a much nicer venue than I am used to being in, and I have to be honest, I like Station 4 a lot better. I don’t feel quite so much like I’m being judged; my friend said she feels like they run it a bit like a nightclub sometimes, and that’s what it felt like to me. A lot of security, and a coat check you had to pay for. I mean, the venue was nice, and the sound was very good, but it was a weird experience and I’d much rather be at a place that will allow me to loiter with my friends afterwards.

It’s interesting to see how Enslaved or their label or whoever does it picks the bands that open for them. Last time it was Alcest and (was supposed to be) Ghost; this time it was all bands from the United States South. I appreciate the variety, however; death metal shows, for instance, are usually not too good about varying the bands on the lineup, although I suppose there is something to be said too about six hours-worth of death metal.

The opening band was Ancient VVisdom from Austin, Texas. They are an interesting band; their drummer stands the entire time, their vocalist used a chain for sound effects on one song, and they have an acoustic guitar player. Although the music was pretty standard hard rock (it reminded me of a lot of the stuff that was on the radio when I was a kid), there was a certain Southern tinge to it, perhaps as a result of the acoustic guitar. The lyrics were also centered around Satan, which I found very interesting- people where I come from tend to be scared of the Devil in a way that most people aren’t , and he is certainly not something you ever talk about. It was a little refreshing to see a Southern band do it, then. They played a strong set; Jamie saw them a while back when they opened for someone else, and he said that they were much better this time (the sound was messed up when he’d seen them previously). That being said, they really were not my thing (although I did appreciate the acoustic guitar).

[Live at Roadburn. I think they’d grow on me if I let them. Certainly original]

Next up was Royal Thunder, who I was really happy to see added to the bill a few weeks ago. Royal Thunder is that dirty, sludgy sound that the Georgia bands do so well, and they also have a female vocalist (hooray for girls in metal!). Her voice is awesome- it has a gravely growl to it and really complements the music well. They were also a three piece for our set- I’m not sure what happened to the other guitarist, but the sound was still very solid despite his absence. I had expected many more people up on stage than just three- their sound is tremendous. They played a very solid set, and I am really glad I got to see them perform live.

[Lovely]

Then was the mighty Pallbearer, who played easily one of the heaviest sets I have ever seen. Holy crap. The speakers were turned up so loud that the vocalist kept getting feedback when the sound guy tried to turn the vocals up. As a result, the vocals were a little hard to hear from where we were. Jamie went out to smoke at one point and said that you could hear a little better from further back, though. One of the drummer’s cymbals fell over during the first song, but Ancient VVisdom’s vocalist ran onstage and righted it, and it was quickly fixed before the second song. My gosh were they amazing. Heavy heavy heavy dooom. I am going to have to catch them headlining sometime, when I can maybe see them play more than three songs.

[Doooooooom.]

Finally, Enslaved took the stage (and the sound, thank goodness, was better)! They were incredible! They played a lot of stuff from the new album, including Materal, which is obviously the best song on RIITIIR. They also played quite a bit of their more recent material. I was a little worried for a while; they’d played about 45 minutes already, and although I do enjoy Enslaved’s newer material, I prefer the black metally old stuff. It was silly of me to worry, though. Ivar Bjørnson brought out the black guitar, the signal for “the old stuff is coming.” They then proceeded to play another 45-50 minutes of their older material. It was insane- if you go to see Enslaved on this tour, you will definitely get your money’s worth. They ended with their cover of the Immigrant Song, which was a lot of fun to see live, and came out and played Isa as an encore (yeeeessssssss). It was an excellent set, a great end to a night of really good music.

[Epic]

[Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-ssssaaaaaaaaaaa]

Over at the merch table, I picked up a couple of more buttons (Ancient VVisdom and Royal Thunder) and an Enslaved shirt. They had a lot of really cool shirts to choose from (including a white RIITIIR shirt, holy crap), but I couldn’t resist the Frost shirt.

All and all it was a really awesome evening despite vocal difficulties and missing guitarists. Enslaved was everything I hoped they would be, and they had something for everyone in their set. My getting to see Enslaved was a long time in the making, and they did not disappoint. Pallbearer was also earth-shattering; I wish the vocal sound was better, but it couldn’t be helped, and they sounded fantastic even still. Royal Thunder was as much fun live as I expected they would be, and Ancient VVisdom was a really interesting and original band, if not quite my style. Overall, ‘twas a good night.

(I promise I am doing my best to update this whenever I can. School is insane this semester. Just did a big presentation that went off without a hitch, but that means I get to devote less time here. I’m working on it. I promise).

Coming up soon- a review of RIITIIR (where I can go into detail of why Materal is the best song on the album), some more updates to my jacket, a bit on the new metal record store in St. Paul (because St. Paul is cool too!), and a review of the local black metal show I’ll be going to on Saturday. Whew. A lot, basically (and there’s more where that’s coming from, as long as I can make time to post things).